Dr. Honjo provides business consulting to Japanese and U.S. companies, focusing on new business development. He is Advisor to Japanese and U.S. companies such as 500 Startups, Net Service Ventures, and Kozo Keikaku Engineering. He is also Visiting Professor at Tama Graduate School of Business.

He is active in entrepreneurial education and community development, as a mentor with Founder Institute, Shido Next Innovator, Fukuoka Prefecture etc. He led the Japanese Miniter’s project to promote medical ventures in 2016.

He founded and represented the Tokyo office of General Atlantic LLC. He was Assistant to Chairman and Group Strategy Manager of CSK/SEGA Group, a leader in enterprise IT and digital entertainment in Japan. He has extensive consulting experiences with BCG in Tokyo and CSC in California.

Dr. Honjo has Ph.D. in International Studies from Waseda University, MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and BS from the University of Tokyo.

Website: http://www.honjo.biz/en

Dr. Osawa has over thirty years of experience in investment and management of high-tech companies in Japan, the U.S. and Asia. He co-founded Global Catalyst Partners (GCP) in 1999 and Global Catalyst Partners Japan (GCP-J) in 2014.

GCP is a venture capital fund established in Silicon Valley that invests primarily in early stage companies active in the areas of IT sector. GCP has established three funds with a total amount of over $300M. Dr. Osawa also founded GCP-J in 2014 that focuses investment opportunities primarily in Japan.

Prior to GCP, he was at Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest trading firm in the world, for 14 years, starting in 1985. He was Division Manager of Mitsubishi International Corporation (Palo Alto Office) from 1993 through 1999. He was responsible for business development with high-tech companies in Silicon Valley in the areas of semiconductors, communications and software.

Dr. Osawa is on the board of Verient, Fuller, Hospitality ONE, Axismotion, Veeple and Vanguard Industries.
He also works closely with SoundHound.

He serves on the Board of Directors of several NPOs: Global Catalyst Foundation, Digital Divide Data and Keizai Silicon Valley.

Dr. Osawa received a BS in Electronics from Keio University, Japan and Ph.D. in Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan.

Graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo.

Joined NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation).

Graduated from McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.

After working at such departments as International Office, NTT East Corporation, International Office, NTT Corporation, Corporate Sales Promotion Headquarters, NTT East Corporation, and Technology Planning Department, NTT Corporation, she has assumed the current position and is in charge of investment and alliance business.

Born in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.

Upon graduating from university, he started a business in 1991, previously having worked at consulting firms and foreign-owned advertising companies.

He has been involved in Internet related business since the late 1990s and participated in the planning and setup of WebCrew Inc., whose automobile insurance price comparison website became a hit and was later listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers.

In 2000, he co-founded and became the CEO of Interscope, Inc. (Internet research company), which was sold off to Yahoo! Japan in 2007, and later merged with Macromill in 2010. Also, he co-launched an Internet research society, Internet Research forum of Japan, assuming the position of chairman; a field he has made great contributions to.

In March 2011, he assumed the position of Tokyo Officer of SunBridge’s seed acceleration activities, and in May of the same year, in cooperation with Mr. Takeuchi of VentureNow, he launched "Innovation Weekend", a pitch event and networking platform for early stage startups and angel investors.

In January of 2012, he co-founded SunBridge Global Ventures Inc. and became its president & CEO (current position). In addition, he presently serves as visiting professor at Hosei University Graduate School of Business Administration (MBA), and outside directors of several startups.

Firmly maintaining his foundational vision of “producing 'global challengers' who create 'global innovations' that inspire 'courage and confidence' and give 'hope' to society", he conducts his work with strong professional vigor.

Tim Romero is a Tokyo-based entrepreneur, podcaster and author who has started four companies and led Japan market entry for others since coming to Japan more than 25 years ago.

Tim hosts the Disrupting Japan podcast and is deeply involved in Japan's startup community as an investor, founder and mentor.